different between deaf vs dumbness

English

Etymology

From Middle English deef, from Old English d?af, from Proto-West Germanic *daub, from Proto-Germanic *daubaz, from Proto-Indo-European *d?ewb?- (“to whisk, smoke, darken, obscure”). Cognate with Ancient Greek ?????? (tuphlós, “blind”). See also dumb.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d?f/
• (dated, regional US and England) IPA^(key): /di?f/
• Rhymes: -?f
• Homophones: death (with th-fronting), Deaf, def

Adjective

deaf (comparative deafer, superlative deafest)

1. Unable to hear, or only partially able to hear.
   • 1665, John Dryden, The Indian Emperour

     Deaf with the noise, I took my hasty flight.

2. Unwilling to listen or be persuaded; determinedly inattentive; regardless.
3. Obscurely heard; stifled; deadened.
4. (obsolete, Britain, dialect) Decayed; tasteless; dead.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Halliwell to this entry?)

   • If the season be unkindly and intemperate, they [peppers] will catch a blast; and then the seeds will be deafe, void, light, and naught.

Synonyms

• hard of hearing
• hearing-impaired

Derived terms

• Deaf
• Deaf Smith County
• fall on deaf ears
• stone deaf
• turn a deaf ear
• deaf aid
• deaf and dumb
• deaf-mute
• deafen
• deafness

Translations

See also

• inaudible (unable to be heard)
• anosmic
• blind

Noun

deaf (plural deafs)

1. (nonstandard, rare) A deaf person.

Usage notes

Used primarily within the deaf community.

Translations

Verb

deaf (third-person singular simple present deafs, present participle deafing, simple past and past participle deafed)

1. (obsolete, transitive) To deafen.

See also

• Deafness on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Deaf culture on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• EDFA, fade

Old English

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *daub.

Germanic cognates include Old Frisian d?f, Old Saxon d?f (Low German dow), Old High German toub (German taub), Old Norse daufr (Swedish döv). The Indo-European root is also the source of Greek ?????? (tyflós, “blind”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dæ???f/

Adjective

d?af

1. deaf

Declension

Descendants

• Middle English: deef, def
  • English: deaf
  • Scots: deef, deif, deaf

English

Etymology

From Middle English dombenesse, from Old English dumbnes; equivalent to dumb +? -ness. Cognate with Old Frisian dumbnisse (“folly, dumbness”).

Noun

dumbness (usually uncountable, plural dumbnesses)

1. The state of being dumb or mute: that is, of not communicating vocally, whether from selective mutism (refusal to speak) or from an inability to speak.
   • 1944, Emily Carr, The House of All Sorts, "Sissy's Job," [1]

     He was a deaf-mute. His dumbness did not seem to matter when we were boys.

2. Muteness, silence; abstention from speech.
   • 1611 Shakespeare, William [first known show: 15 May 1611; posthumous publication: 1623], Winter's Tale, Act 5, Scene 2:

     There was speech in their dumbness.

3. Show or gesture without words; pantomime; dumb-show.
   • 1623 Shakespeare, William [posthumous publication], Timon of Athens, Act 1, Scene 1:

     To the dumbness of the gesture one might interpret.

4. (informal) The quality of being stupid or foolish.

Related terms

• dumb
• dumb-show

Translations